Bill Gates' Attitude Toward Charity and Broadband Access Is Misguided....And It's Shared by Millions of Americans (Part 1)

Last year Bill Gates made comments regarding how providing free/improved broadband Internet access to impoverished nations is not as important as providing treatment for the Malaria epidemic. If you think about this only in the short term it is 100% correct, but if you move further away from the picture it becomes drastically altered, and instead should be seen like a band-aid trying to heal a gaping bleeding wound. It's shocking that someone as bright and caring as Bill Gates doesn't see the bigger picture here.

America has this weird love affair with charity that sometimes results in creating bigger problems in the long run because those donating and administrating the charity believe they are doing good while missing the same bigger picture that Bill Gates fails to see. Think about every time a person, a company or a corporation donates mass amounts of clothing to third world countries. The result for the person donating is a good feeling in how they are helping others and giving a shirt to a poor kid who cannot afford one. What no one asks or thinks about is what is the actual result of this action? The result is that these countries have no economic incentive to create any sort of textile market or industry, which is one less potential job for the poor.

The previous example is similar to the statement Bill Gates made, which upon hearing makes complete sense but upon further examination is troublesome. Don't get me wrong, providing them with Malaria vaccines is a valid charity and definitely worthy of donations and support, but it doesn't fix the problem, only individual cases. Providing free or low-cost Internet access opens doors to these communities that could provide them with information on how to reduce the spread of malaria or how to create the vaccines used.

I truly believe that in the past 15 years 1st World nations have had something of an educational boom because of technology, and although the system of sharing information is severely neutered because of obsolete and evil patent laws, the ease of access to information is still exponentially greater than it ever has been.

Contrary to popular belief by the conservative, old and racist communities, Third-World nations full of "dark" people contain just as many brilliant and talented people as America, China, Japan or any other country, the only difference is their impact is greatly diminished due to lacking access to information. Enabling cheap or low-cost access to this information is the greatest charity we could provide to these countries and could result in many problems being solved by those within their own community.

The suggestion I have to those who still want to help their fellow man is to concentrate on helping the less fortunate within your own country and more specifically in your own community. In my job I assist many low-income students who lack Internet access at home, requiring them to come to campus or a library (often using slow/unreliable public transportation) in order to do simple things like applying for a job, paying a bill, registering for a class or typing a paper.

DONATING TO A CHURCH IS NOT CHARITY!

Churches and religious organizations are the only businesses in America that can get get away without paying proper taxes.

It is also well known that donations to a religious organization can be written off as a charity.

Donating money to a church is not charity, it is not close to charity and the fact we let people get away with this is ridiculous. These churches pay nothing or next to nothing and expect to be given complete freedom in what they say and how they act (which is fine, if they paid their part). ALL religious institutions are businesses and market themselves to the public, therefore they should be forced to pay their part in taxes.

Whenever folks talk about how Mitt Romney is just a rich greedy asshole someone will defend him by stating his charitable constitutions. These charitable constitutions were to the Mormon Church, which isn't exactly into helping the poor and less fortunate with that money....instead they use it to fund "missions" to spread their idea of made up nonsense to others, in essence an Advertising Plan.

This also goes to the Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and any other religion that feels it's okay to accept money to promote your businesses but not pay their part. It's about time we stop giving these greedy con-men a pass for taking advantage of people who are more likely to believe in nonsense.